Palladium Books® Weekly Update – June 23, 2011

By Kevin Siembieda

Palladium’s Birthday Celebration continues with a new sale I designed to make people go wild over. Last week’s Birthday Sale had some high priced ($50) items even after the sale discount.

Times are tough for a lot of people, so I decided to make this week’s Birthday Celebration Sale a cost cutting bananza with prices so low you may be stunned. (Roll 1D20 – 18 or higher needed to save!) Wayne questioned my judgement. Alex tried to stop me. Julius just shook his head. Kathy said, “bring it on.” Spread the word so every Palladium fan can take advantage of these sale items.

See the descriptions of sale items elsewhere in this Weekly Update. But be warned. The shock might be too much for the faint of heart.

This will be the last Birthday Sale for a while (maybe for the year), but we have other plans to celebrate Palladium’s 30th Birthday in the months to come.

UPDATE: Online Sales. Father’s Day and nice weather around the country resulted in weak sales over the weekend even with the sale going on. Monday’s sales were the worst of the week, which is unusual. However, sales bounced back to decent levels for the rest of the week.

UPDATE: Back in Print: We are planning to bring several title back in print, including Mutant Underground™ for Heroes Unlimited™, Xiticix Invasion™ for Rifts® and others over the next month or two.

The following titles are also recently back in print and ready to ship:

UPDATE: Rifts® Vampire Kingdoms™. Writing has had its ups and downs, but the book is nearing completion. I gave Alex another 50 pages to edit this week. All the artwork is done, and we expect to layout next week. I just finished vampire weaknesses and weapons to fight vampires. I’ve added pages of clarifications, details and items. Next is finishing the Vampire R.C.C. descriptions (including the Deluded Vampire and Hero Vampire), the Vampire Hunters, a few dinosaurs used by farmers, a typical village, going over my Yucatan material and I think I’m done.

UPDATE: The Rifter® #55. All the art has been assigned. Editing has begun. We are still looking for new contributors to future issues of The Rifter®. That could be you. The Rifter® is designed to publish “fan” created source material, so what are you waiting for, send us your 8-25 page articles. The October Horror issue is next.

UPDATE: Rifts® World Book 32: Lemuria™. Art has been assigned. Need to assign the rest today.

UPDATE: DriveThruRPG.com: The Rifts® Vampire Kingdoms Sneak Preview should be going up as a FREE download in the next 7-10 days. Don’t forget, other sneak previews are available, and The Rifter® Number Zero and Hades Map Pack were recently made available on DriveThruRPG.com. DriveThruRPG offers more than 90 out of print titles (and a few that are not) as PDF downloads. It is a good resource for getting The Rifter® #1-48 and to fill in your RPG library with first edition copies of Rifts®, Palladium Fantasy®, Heroes Unlimited™, and other game lines as well as books such as Nightbane® Book Four: Shadows of Light™ and both versions of the The Mechanoids® RPG (1985) and The Collected Mechanoid Invasion® Trilogy (1981-1983).

Palladium Books – Booth 1125 at Gen Con Indy – August 4-7. Gen Con is coming up FAST! It’s only something like six weeks away. Yikes. We’ll be there, so if you’re coming to Gen Con too, you’d better be planning on swinging by to pick up the latest releases, backstock items, out of print collectibles, artwork and autographs.

Me, Wayne Smith, Brandon Aten, Nick Bradshaw, Matthew Clements, Mike Mumah and other Palladium creators will be available to chat and sign books every day of the convention. We may also debut some Birthday Celebration items at Gen Con. Join the fun. FYI: I don’t think there are any “official” Palladium gaming events on the schedule but there are always a bunch of “unofficial” games.

Palladium people you’ll get to meet include:

Kevin Siembieda

Wayne Smith

Nick Bradshaw (artist)

Michael Mumah (artist, tentative)

Brandon Aten (writer)

Matthew Clements (writer)

And others to be announced.

UPDATE: Facebook page reaches 3,000 likes! As I’m writing this at 7:30 A.M., we have 2994 people who like the Palladium Facebook page. It’s funny how each milestone seems exciting, isn’t it? So please, continue to spread the word about Palladium Books’ Facebook page, new website, upcoming releases and other exciting things going on at Palladium Books.

Post links to the Palladium home page and online store too. Your posting links to the Palladium Books website, the online store, and even links to specific products and discussion threads on your own websites, Facebook pages, and other websites that allow such things, really does help people discover the magic of Palladium’s role-playing games. Also talk about your favorite games and new releases. Thanks again.

UPDATE: Palladium’s new, awesome website. Many website issues have been addressed, but we continue to make tweaks and improvements. One of those improvements is to speed up the load time for people who have older, slower internet connections. The site loads in a few seconds for those with a fast system (3+ Mbps), but those with slower systems can take 35-45 seconds or longer. Research shows you lose 30% of the people if it takes longer than four seconds, 60% if it takes longer than 8 seconds. Of course, once you've visited once, the site loads much faster (2-6 seconds) and obviously, people who want to visit the website will wait for it. But the theory is we’re missing new people who visit for one reason or another and don’t have the patience to wait. Which, these days is most of us. I must admit, I get antsy after 15 seconds of waiting and I consider clicking off after 25-35 seconds. I know, because this issue has me timing myself every time I go to a new website.

The bad news with the slow load speed is that to speed it up, we may have to take away the fun, snazzy features of the site. Fewer or no moving parts, removing symbols and icons, and making the page more static. Grrrr. The overall response to the page is “awesome, “wow,” and “love it.” So I hope people won’t mind too much or be disappointed.

Let us know what you think, and also how long it takes for our website to load for you. Thank you.

Please continue to have patience with us. I know the Forums have gone down a few times as we make changes and updates behind the scenes. It’s likely to continue to happen from time to time. Just let us know when it does so we can fix ‘em up.

QueenofGhouls.com – Kathy Simmons continues to whip up new creations. A pair of happy scarecrows are going up, a Zombie Doctor was added last week, and the Queen of Ghouls has plans for monsters in the weeks to come. Expect more zombies, skeleton pirates, wizards, werewolves and creatures of the night. Halloween is only four months away!

UPDATE: Alex and his house. Work on the house nears completion. The duct work, furnace, water heater, plumbing, electrical and exterior work are done. Painting, carpeting and detail work remain. After that, the city inspection and home sweet home. Hang in there, Alex.

Behind the Scenes Report:

Alex Marciniszyn has been in a bad way. Palladium has had so much bad news the last several years, I hate to bring up unpleasant things. So I regret to inform you that Alex has been struggling emotionally and physically the last couple of months. High anxiety, stress, delays fixing the house (mostly due to weather), money concerns (mostly due to the house), and family dynamics, among other things, have all taken their toll on poor Alex, resulting in sleepless nights, depression and health issues. Alex is seeing doctors and doing everything he needs to be doing. More medical tests are scheduled. With any luck, Alex can avoid hospitalization, but the verdict remains out on that front. Fingers crossed. He said he felt better this morning, so that’s a good sign. I have had him staying with me for a while.

Most of you have seen Alex’s name but probably don’t know much about him. The last name is pronounced “Mar-sin-uh-zin.” Alex Marciniszyn is a quiet giant at Palladium Books. Giant as in his many years and contributions to the company, unwavering dedication and working hard without accolades or fanfare. Well Alex, here is a little fanfare.

Alex Marciniszyn is quiet, gentle and humble. He doesn’t talk about himself or his accomplishments, so people don’t often realize Al has been at my side since I started the company. That he has help whenever and wherever he could, be it editing, shipping, or unloading skids of books from the back of a truck. They don’t realize that Alex has edited almost every single Palladium product since 1984. They don’t know Alex plundered his savings during the Crisis of Treachery and insisted on lending Palladium a sizeable amount of money (loans I still owe). They don’t know Alex is my sounding board for ideas, my feedback guy, my research guy, my general assistant, best friend and left hand man.

They don’t know Alex dabbles in drawing (he’s pretty good too), has a brilliant mind, reads all the time and is something of an expert on aspects of World War II (mainly technology), USA aerospace history and technology, and UFOs. Or that Alex was a good friend of Rick Davis and part of the Detroit Techno Music scene in the 1980s.

My friendship with Alex goes back long before Palladium. We’ve been best friends since eighth grade and have been co-conspirators in many adventures including publishing fanzines and five issues of the A+Plus comic book, art, music, gaming, role-playing, the Detroit Gaming Center, going to and running comic book conventions, developing our skills as creators, discovering girls and much, much more. In our teen years, Alex and I were like the Two-Musketeers. We did everything together and were constantly working on some new story, artwork, comic book or creative idea. My Dad used to introduce Alex to people as, “This is my third son, Alex.” — Gosh, I miss my Dad. Boy, am I glad to have a friend like Alex. We’ve been there for each other through the thick and thin of each other’s lives for 43 years now.

Alex is an important part of the Palladium family, so you won’t be surprised that we are all concerned about him. His difficulties with the house fire, family and now his health, have taken us all a bit out of our game, but we are optimistic. The house repairs are almost finished, Alex is getting the medical attention he needs, and he is not alone in this. We were all pleased to hear he felt (and looked) a bit better this morning, and we’re all rooting for him on all fronts. We love you, Alex.

Three new releases in July. Nothing ever goes easy, does it? I’ve been writing well, but for some reason, not as fast as I need to be doing. Over the last month, I’ve had a few days here and there where I was in “dynamo mode” and writing like a whirlwind, but most of the time I find myself writing well but slow. Days where I’m forced to deal with other matters don’t help either. I want to apologize for the logjam this has caused and the delay in new releases. I know delays disappoint and frustrate you. They also hurt Palladium, so I’m on it. As always, we want to give you the quality books you expect from us. Books that please, surprise and put a smile on your faces. Books that make you want to play. We have some truly epic books in various stages of completion and development. Once I get past Vampire Kingdoms™, which is almost finished, I think books will come out much faster.

In the month of July you will see The Rifter #55, Rifts® Vampire Kingdoms™, and Rifts® Lemuria released. Followed by Robotech® New Generation, Rifts® Vampires Sourcebook, Megaverse® in Flames™ and some surprises. For example, did you know Lemuria will be followed by a Rifts® New Navy book? Or that we have books planned for Chaos Earth™, Palladium Fantasy®, Splicers® and most of Palladium’s game lines? And that’s just a bit of what we’ve been working on in secret.

Palladium’s 30th Birthday Sale

– June 23-27, 2011 – 5 Days Only!

It’s Palladium’s 30th Birthday. The economy sucks and gamers are struggling. Kevin has heard your pleas and is giving you something to celebrate about by closing out the month of June with some blow-out sales bundles. Tell every Palladium fan you know.

We need you to spread the word, because this sale is only offered online and advertised in this Update and on the Palladium website. If you don’t tell your gaming friends they’ll miss out on what might be our best and last Birthday Sale of the year!

Since 2011 is Palladium’s 30th Anniversary/Birthday, most items are bundled in groups of three. The savings of this sale are truly mind-numbing. Sale lasts five days only and ends Tuesday morning, June 28, 2011.

This sale is a great way to add to your collection or buy gifts for birthdays, graduation, anniversaries and other occasions. And don’t forget to pick up those new books, T-shirts and back in print titles you've been meaning to buy.

Game on and spread the word about this 5-day sale.

Rifts® Minion War™ Special

You get three sourcebooks that can be used to start your Minion War™ campaign or use as stand-alone sourcebooks. All are suitable for use in Rifts®, Phase World®, Heroes Unlimited™ and Palladium Fantasy RPG™.

Rifts® Coalition Wars®: Final Siege, 224 pages, $24.95 retail, Cat. No. 844. More weapons, magic, Cyber-Knights, heroes, villains and more than 40 NPCs with complete stats. The Kingdom of Tolkeen described and mapped. Many gamers say you need this book first to play a campaign set in Tolkeen or the Siege on Tolkeen. Also makes a good template for other magic communities. Epic.

$33.45 is your special sale price for ALL three items! Available for FIVE DAYS ONLY. Offer ends Tuesday morning, June 28, 2011.

Palladium Fantasy® Special

This is your chance to try playing the Palladium Fantasy RPG® and get two major sourcebooks – 624 total pages – for $15 less than the price of the Pathfinder Core Rule Book alone. How can you pass this deal up? Tell your friends!

Mysteries of Magic™ – Book One: The Heart of Magic™, 96 pages, $20.95 retail, Cat. No. 472. New mage character classes, apprentice, priest variant, P.P.E. batteries, 23 new Wizard spells, 27 new Warlock spells, new mage skills, info and history about magic and how it works, and more.

$34.42 is your insanely special sale price for ALL three items! Available for FIVE DAYS ONLY. Offer ends Tuesday morning, June 28, 2011.

$68.85 is the total value at normal retail for these three items. Palladium Books – always with the best prices on role-playing games.

Nightbane® RPG Special

This is your chance to try playing the Nightbane® RPG and get two major sourcebooks – 552 total pages – for less than what most companies charge for one core book. Don’t pass this deal up.

Nightbane Role-Playing Game® – core rule book, 240 pages, $24.95 retail, Cat. No. 730. Everything you need to play except dice and players. Nightbane® is unlike anything you have ever played before: Modern horror, combined with conspiracy, demonic invasion and super beings. The super abilities of the Nightbane have awakened, but they have two problems. One, their powers don’t come with an instruction manual. Two, they must turn into monsters to use their abilities. Magic, psionics, secret societies, mirrors to another dimension, monsters and demonic invaders that most people don’t even know have taken over the world’s governments fill out the book. Can your Nightbane stop them?

Nightbane® World Book 13: Through the Glass Darkly™, 152 pages, $20.95 retail, Cat. No. 733. New types of magic like the Fleshsculptor, Cybermage and Mirrormage, 50+ new magic spells, magic charms and artifacts, and rules for creating variant magic, plus adventure ideas and more.

Rifts® Logo Baseball Cap Special

What better time to buy a baseball cap than Summer? Quality cotton cap with adjustable size, and side venting. Khaki with black highlights and black Rifts® logo. Everyone at Palladium owns one, you should too.

$10.00 is your special sale price! Available for FIVE DAYS ONLY. Offer ends Tuesday morning, June 28, 2011.

Rifts® Book of Magic

– Back in Print – Available Now

This is the ultimate guide to magic on Rifts Earth. All the magic spells, magic tattoos, Techno-Wizard items, magic weapons, equipment, body armor, restraints, parasites, symbiotes, magic items, Automatons, Iron Juggernauts, and more from Rifts® World Books 1-23,Sourcebooks 1-4, and Siege on Tolkeen 1-6, collected into one big reference. This is a great reference book. Kevin and all of us at Palladium use it and the Rifts® Game Master Guide constantly.

NEW! Rifts® World Book One:

Vampire Kingdoms™, Expanded & Updated – ships July

Kevin Siembieda is completely rewriting, reorganizing, and expanding one of the most popular Rifts® World Books ever published: Vampire Kingdoms™. Updated to 109 P.A., there is so much new material that it is practically a new book, yet it also preserves most of the original characters, concepts and information. The new material is built upon the original text, only rewritten, clarified and expanded. Vampire Kingdoms™ will be updated and expanded in a more dramatic fashion than Kevin’s work in Rifts® Sourcebook One a few years ago. Best of all, it will be quickly followed by the Rifts® Vampires Sourcebook™.

The Vampire Hunter O.C.C.

Techno-Wizard vampire slaying weapons and devices, new and old.

Vampires: Their strengths, weaknesses and powers.

The Vampire Kingdoms expanded.

Travel through the Vampire Kingdoms and surrounding areas.

Desert survival rules and guidelines.

Vampire strategies and plans for conquest.

The observations of Doc Reid.

Camazotz, Lord of Bats and Darkness – his plans for conquest of the Vampire Kingdoms and humanity.

Ciudad Juarez mapped and described. A typical village and other places also described.

The Yucatan Peninsula, and adventure ideas galore.

Were-Jaguars and other Were-Beasts of the Yucatan.

Updated and revised to 110 P.A., plus Archie Three and more.

Cover by E.M. Gist.

New artwork by Mike Wilson, Kent Burles, Mike Mumah and Nick Bradshaw, plus the best of Kevin Long and Tim Truman from the original book.

NEW! Rifts® Vampires Sourcebook™

All new source material

Trouble is stirring in the Vampire Kingdoms as ambitious vampire lords, ladies and misanthropes seek to expand their power to dominate more mortal life forms.

Written by Kevin Siembieda and a handpicked selection of other writers, this sourcebook explores the vampires of Mexico and their kingdoms in ways you never imagined. Tons of new data, adventure ideas and revelations.

NEW! The Rifter® #55

– Ships July

The Rifter® is your doorway to unlimited imagination and numerous Palladium role-playing worlds. It offers new heroes, powers, weapons, magic and adventure for your games. It presents new villains, monsters and dangers to battle, and new ideas to consider.

The Rifter® #55: Is under construction. Wayne Smith is busy selecting material for this issue even as you read this.

NEW! Rifts® World Book: Lemuria™

– Ships July 26

The power, secrets and magic of the underwater realm of Lemuria revealed. Player characters can use symbiotes, magic and technology to breathe underwater and spend time below the waves.

Lemuria is more than an underwater civilization of aquatic beings. They can trace their lineage as far back as the Atlanteans and can survive on dry land as well as underwater. In fact, their greatest secret is that there is no one resting place for the Lemurians, their great cities are always moving. Learn about the people of Lemuria, new Biomancy magic and weapons, Biomancy engineered riding animals, sea herbs, new powers of healing, sea monsters, and more. Epic adventure awaits.

The Lemurians, their race, history and society.

New O.C.C.s including the Serpent Hunter, Shriekers, Oceanic Guardsman, Aquatic Biomancer and others.

The Stone Guardians of Easter Island and other mysteries.

Biomancer Gardens and Aquatic Biomancy.

Biomancy armor, weapons and equipment.

Symbiotic creatures and constructs; some that enable air-breathers to survive underwater, indefinitely.

New psionic abilities.

Sea Serpents, Sea Dragons, monsters, and riding animals.

New dangers, new challenges, adventure ideas and more.

Written by Greg Diaczyk.

Cover by John Zeleznik.

160 pages – $20.95 retail – Cat. No. 885. Final page count and price may be subject to expansion and increase. July 2011.

NEW! Robotech® New Generation™ Sourcebook

This Robotech® sourcebook will be a Summer 2011 release.

Rules for using mecha, power armor and technology from all four eras of Robotech.

Kit-bashed mecha and rules for jury-rigging and combining parts from different generations of mecha.

NEW! Rifts® Megaverse® in Flames™

The Minion War spills across Rifts Earth, where demons and infernals hope to recruit allies and use the Rifts as gateways of destruction. Their influence shakes things up across the planet, especially at locations where demons and Deevils already have a strong presence. More details to follow, but for now, 'nuff said.

Soulmancer and Blood Magic.

The Seven Deadly Plagues.

The Demon Plagues across the globe.

Battleground: Earth – as demons and infernals amass their legions.

Rifts Calgary – also known as Hell's Pit; the kingdom described.

Ciudad de Diablo, Harpies' Island and other notable Hell holes on Earth.

Lord Doom, Pain and other demonic leaders.

Horune treachery, Dimension Stormers and other villains.

Global chaos and the places most dramatically affected by the Demon Plagues.

Rifts® Dimension Book™ 14: Thundercloud Galaxy™

– Available Now

The book is sitting in our warehouse waiting for your orders. It is packed with great ideas, great art, unique, new alien races available as player characters, weird creatures and monsters, secrets of the Gene-Tech, weapons of the Dominators, ancient ruins, colony creation rules, adventure galore and much, much more.

The Scramble is the mad dash to claim and colonize the thousands of worlds of the Thundercloud Galaxy. Colonists flock to the Thundercloud filled with dreams. Space Pirates and an array of cutthroats also flock to the galaxy, guns in hand, ready to rob and fleece the colonists. Lawmen and heroes are in great demand, and the opportunities for clever adventurers are said to be without limit. As the civilizations of the Anvil and Corkscrew Galaxies scramble to colonize the Thundercloud, they are beginning to realize the galaxy holds more riches, beauty, horrors and secrets than anyone has ever imagined, making it a place of discovery, adventure and treachery like no other.

Thundercloud Galaxy™ is a perfect companion to the rest of the Phase World®/Three Galaxies™ based Dimension Books as well as the Minion War™ series. Players can be pirates, raiders, brigands or hired guns, or they may be explorers, adventurers, Spacers, or any number of heroes trying to protect the colonists or the indigenous peoples of countless worlds and colonies. The possibilities are truly limited only by your imagination.

17 new alien R.C.C.s plus the Elder Races, Dominators and more.

9 notable monsters and strange creatures, plus minions.

Learn about the mysterious Elder Races, complete with stats.

Dominator weapons, gear and salvage available to players.

Gene-Tech and their chemical enhancements, gear and salvage available to players.

Rifts® World Book 8: Rifts® Japan™

– Back in Print – Available now

This fan-favorite sourcebook is filled with high-tech wonders, magic and monsters. There are 20 O.C.C.s (Occupational Character Classes) that range from the traditional ninja and samurai to power armor, giant robots and cyborgs.

Rifts® World Book 13: Lone Star™

– Back in Print – Available now

The Coalition State of Lone Star is a wild and woolly place of contrast and conflict. The Coalition States claims the entire State of Texas as their own, but they only control a small corner of it. It is here, at the Lone Star Complex, that the CS engages in genetic engineering and creates the famous Dog Boys and a host of other mutants. The rest of the state is held by the Pecos Empire – an empire of bandits, outlaws and rebels. The perfect companion to Rifts® New West™, Rifts® Spirit West™ and Rifts® Machinations of Doom™.

19 R.C.C.s, many of which are mutants.

A few new O.C.C.s.

Dog Boys – an in-depth look at how they are designed, bred and trained.

Armageddon Unlimited™

for Heroes Unlimited™ and the Minion War™ – Available now

Armageddon Unlimited™ is the ultimate good vs evil setting and adventure. The fate of the world hangs in the balance and only you can stop its destruction as demons and Deevils fight for control of the Earth and bringing about the end of life as we know it.

Armageddon Unlimited™ is more than an epic world-saving adventure, it is also a sourcebook jam-packed with new powers, magic, weapons and Power Categories that can be incorporated into any Heroes Unlimited™ campaign. This book can be used as a standalone adventure sourcebook for Heroes Unlimited™ or as a pivotal plot in an expansive Minion War™ campaign. Get a free sneak preview of the book from DriveThruRPG.com.

7 new Minor and 14 Major Super Abilities.

Deevil and Demon magical Chaos Weapons.

Enchanted Weapons of Order and a few Enchanted Objects.

Demon Hunter Power Category and abilities.

Crusader of Light Power Category and abilities.

Heroic Hellion Power Category – play a “reformed demon.”

Hellion monster creation table.

Magically Bestowed Variant Power Categories and abilities let you wield weapons that empower good and destroy evil.

Rifts® Mercenaries™

Rifts® Book of Magic™

Rifts® World Book 23: Rifts® Free Quebec™

The Queen of Ghouls: Life-Sized Halloween Props

Check out the new creations by Palladium’s very own Kathy Simmons. See her zombie doctor and other new zombies, Jack Skellington and Sally, and more. New creations are on the drawing board, and so is a new website. Each Halloween prop is truly life-sized (most are 6 feet or taller – Jack is almost 8 feet) and seems almost alive.

Each is an all-weather, life-sized Halloween prop that can handle rain and snow, and is a one-of-a-kind work of art (no two are exactly the same). Each looks frighteningly “real.” All come apart and fold down to slightly larger than a king-size pillow for easy storage. Comes with easy instructions, a plastic storage bag, and the lawn stake to stand it up in your front yard. Indoor stand sold separately.

Types of “Ghouls” include: Zombies (all kinds!), killer clowns, wizards, witches, devils, grave ghouls, scarecrows, executioners, mad doctors, deadly nurses, vampires, werewolves, and more. Kathy's also now offering an array of hand-painted Halloween signs, signs with heads and bodies hanging from them, witch's brewing pots, Halloween centerpieces and more. Best of all, her high quality creations are much more affordable and imaginative than most competitors or mass produced items in a store, making them affordable Halloween fun.

If you think the photos online look good, you should see them in person. A typical “ghoul,” as she calls her creations, costs $129-$259. You can see some of her work at her Queen of Ghouls™ Ebay store – queenofghouls.com.